POM: Session4 Marketing Orientations

Marketing is understood and interpreted in different ways. This is translated into the various ways companies do their business. They need to take a stand on how to present themselves as an organization and their products. This standing reflect in their product design, pricing, distribution and promotional strategies. These orientations or philosophies towards marketplace are:

Mass Production

According to this marketing philosophy, consumers will favour those products that are widely available and low in cost. Therefore the best way is to increase production and cut down costs and build profit through volume. This was very evident in times when industrial revolution was extended to the production of mass goods. Companies following production orientation assume that:

• Consumers are primarily interested on product availability and low price
• Demand for a product exceeds supply the consumers are more interested in obtaining the product than in its fine points.
• The supplier will concentrate in finding ways to increase production.

The early example was Ford Model T. It was produced at a relatively lower cost cutting the cosmetic feature to make it affordable to many. Production orientation does not only applicable to production of goods; it is also seen in services. Many medical and dental practices are organized in assembly line principles. Some government agencies such as immigration offices and licenses bureaus also work on this philosophy as they need to provide service to many in limited time. This type of orientation in services often results in the situation where many cases are handled per hour and hence the agencies or companies are open to charges of poor service quality.

This orientation towards marketplace is fairly best fit the companies producing products for masses, need based products, and where the objective is to generate more numbers without worrying of quality. China products availability is high and prices are low because they are practicing production concept. The popular example may be Akshay Kumar movies in Indian Film Industry.

The biggest drawback of this concept is that it provides lot of scope to others to produce the similar or even better product. Thus, companies aim at given a better product. They started following FAB (Features, Advantages and Benefits) principle which gave rise to Product concept.

Quality Products

This orientation towards marketplace assumes that consumers will favour those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. Therefore, they strive on improving quality performance and features. 

The believers in product concept make their product unique and novel so that it would sell and lead to increased sales and profits. They are confident that the consumer would pay any price for a product which is of a very high quality. These marketers do not aim at selling to masses. They rather target a profitable novelty seeking class. For example Sony and Aamir Khan!

Marketing Myopia

This is term coined by Theodore Levitt for situations where firms lose focus on their business and starts emphasizing on other details. In other words, too much stress on product orientation leads management’s failure to recognize a company’s scope of business. In some cases sellers pay more attention to the specific products they offer than to the benefits and experiences produced by the products. In the process of making the product absolutely novel, they tend to forget the basic function of the product. They focus on the “wants” and lose sight of the “needs.” The whole concept of value proposition is lost in the process. Such phenomenon is known as “Marketing Myopia”.

It is not only companies pursuing product concept suffer from marketing myopia, too much of production concept also leads to marketing myopia. Low cost airlines are one example in such category. 

Selling Products

According to advocates of this orientation, consumers, if left alone, will not buy enough of company’s products. Therefore, they promote sales aggressively and build profit through quick turnover. They offer heavy discounts and often rely on personal selling.

Marketing Products

This philosophy assumes that the key to achieving organizational goals comprises of determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors. They aim at building profit through customer satisfaction and loyalty. Companies need to come to market with proper market research to understand what customers will be willing to buy.

Highly customized products & services fall under the philosophy of customer orientation. These day individual marketing or one to one marketing is possible through internet & database marketing software. 

Selling Vs Marketing

Points	Selling	Marketing
Start	Factory	Consumer research
Focus	Products	Customers
Concerns	Tricks and techniques to sell	Identifying and meeting consumer needs
Views	Goods-producing	Customer-satisfying
Emphasis	Exchange	Value satisfaction
Distribution	Extension to sell	Value delivery network
Promotion	Push product through Sales promotion	Pull demand by communicating value
Price	Cost based	Value based

Holistic Outlook

Holistic marketing orientation as described by Kotler, is based on the development, design, and implementation of marketing programs, process, and activities that recognize their breath and interdependencies. It includes these dimensions:

Customer Relationship Management: These days, a key goal of marketing is to retain current customers and build profitable, long – term relationships. These relationship would result in company’s market network that includes, customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, retailers and others. P&G enjoys excellent network of suppliers and distributor to help them maintain their huge product network worldwide.

Integrated marketing: Many different marketing activities are used to create, communicate and deliver value. Integrated marketing aims at coordinating all marketing activities to maximize their joint effects.

Internal Marketing: This component of holistic marketing emphasis that employees contribute to building long-term relationships with customers. Hence, all departments to be committed to vision, mission and strategic planning. Internal marketing requires vertical alignment with senior management and horizontal alignment with all the departments.

Performance marketing

Financial Accountability: Companies should be able to give justification of investments & profitability. They should work towards building its brand value and continuously grow customer base.

Social Responsibility Marketing: Companies must consider ethical, environmental, legal and social implications of their business. They should aim at delivering the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors but also preserves or enhances the well-being of both consumer and society.

Prezi Presentation